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More than two weeks after a man allegedly abducted two girls and sexually assaulted one of them, police arrested a suspect as he drove down a London street.

Investigators say a combination of tips from the public and police work led to the arrest of a London man Wednesday afternoon.

Dieu Chau, 44, is charged with two counts of abduction of a person younger than14, sexual assault and sexual interference.

“We did receive information from the public that verified certain things we didn’t know, gave us information that we didn’t know,” said Det.-Insp. Kevin Heslop.

On May 24, two girls, ages nine and 11, walking on Southdale Rd. near Adelaide St., were approached by a man in a car around 7:30 p.m. The man lured the pair into his vehicle and drove them to Springbank Park before taking them to a fast-food restaurant at Wellington and Commissioners roads.

He took the girls back to Springbank Park to eat, then dropped one of the girls back at Southdale and Adelaide. The other girl was taken to an unknown location and sexually assaulted, police said.

Police wouldn’t elaborate.

“This is a very intimate, violent offence and we don’t want to cause any further trauma to the victim,” Heslop said.

Police were criticized for not putting out information on the abduction until three days after it happened, but Heslop defended the investigation.

“Our chief of police was very aware that investigation was under way and he supported the way in which it was done. He knew we were withholding information, and he is a big believer in getting information out immediately to the public, but in this case, because we have child victims, we have a number of things that we need to verify,” he said.

“We were trying to walk a fine line between ensuring (the crimes) occurred, protecting the victim, gathering evidence and then warning the public and getting information out there.”